Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (May 5, 2025)
Not only did the early 1970s become the prime era for “Blaxploitation” flicks, but also it gave former football players room to enjoy leading movie roles. With 1974’s Three the Hard Way, a trio of these stars joined forces for the first time.
Jimmy Lait (Jim Brown) finds his pal “House” (Junero Jennings) near death. Before his buddy expires, Jimmy learns of a plot that intends to kill as much of the Black population possible.
A group of white supremacists intends to taint the water supply with a toxin deadly only to Blacks. Along with Jagger Daniels (Fred Williamson) and Mister Keyes (Jim Kelly), the men work to foil this evil scheme.
On the surface, it might seem easy to view that plot as paranoid delusions. However, given the ways various US parties have abused minorities over the decades, I won’t view a scheme to essentially eliminate all Blacks as totally far-fetched.
After all, Three came out not long after the public learned of the infamous “Tuskegee Syphilis Study”, a decades-long enterprise in which Black men suffered from untreated venereal disease just so doctors could examine the results. Dozens of these participants died due to this medical neglect, so does the idea of white supremacists who attempt to poison the Black community feel all that out there in a US that often viewed Black lives as disposable?
Honestly, though, the plot of Three doesn’t really matter. It acts as the standard MacGuffin, a device that exists just to give the characters an excuse to kick some butt.
More specifically, the film wants to let viewers see its leads beat down some white behinds. Three provides a basic vigilante vengeance fantasy in which strong Black men take down evil white folks.
And I don’t object to that in the least. Given all the mistreatment of Blacks in the US over the centuries, I get the desire to ‘even the score’ with a violent tale like this.
While Three can satisfy as a story of justice, that doesn’t make it an especially good movie. Our leads become both a strength and a weakness.
On one hand, Brown, Williamson and Kelly certainly possessed the physical abilities and looks to fulfill their roles. They seem more than adequate in the movie’s action sequences.
Unfortunately, none of them display much skill as actors. Some fare better than others – Williamson probably brings the most to the table and Kelly the least – but I can’t find actual convincing work from any of the leads.
The supporting cast doesn’t do much better, even though we get some recognizable faces. Heck, we even see a very young Corbin Bernsen in a bit part!
These actors fail to elevate the thin material. They tend to do better than our leads, but most of the performances lean toward cartoony.
Which matches the movie as a whole since Three exists as a comic book fable. As a revenge-style fantasy, it comes with some thrills.
However, Three also can seem clumsy and awkward too much of the time. It comes with enough good vs. evil buttkicking to excite audiences, but it never turns into a particularly competent movie.
